Sen. Mccain’S Position On Bergdahl Prisoner Exchange

Washington, D.C. ­– The Office of U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) recently released the following statement by Communi­cations Director Brian Rogers:

“In a February interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Senator McCain said he would support a prisoner exchange for Sgt. Bergdahl ‘depending on a lot of the details.’

“Later in the interview, Senator McCain said ‘obviously I’d have to know the details.’

“Had Cooper asked if Senator McCain would support a deal that freed five hard-core Taliban leaders, two of whom are wanted by the UN for war crimes for slaughtering thousands of Shiite Muslims, under terms that allowed them to potentially return to the battlefield against America in a year, the answer would have been ‘Hell no.’

“The Obama administration is obviously having a difficult time defending this deal, and is desperate to discredit its critics on both sides of the aisle.

“But that doesn’t give the White House and their allies license to distort and selectively quote Senator McCain’s words.

“As he’s always said, Senator McCain does not oppose all prisoner exchanges, but his decision would depend directly on the details of any deal — as it would on any important issue — and he’d obviously oppose any deal that threatens the safety and security of our nation and our troops.”